WAM! Vancouver is proud to be a community partner for the screening of GTFO: Get the F&#% Out, a movie about women in gaming.

GTFO, a film by American director Shannon Sun-Higginson, “pries open the video game world to explore a 20 billion dollar industry that is riddled with discrimination and misogyny.” It was sparked by the public display of harassment against Dragon Age writer Jennifer Hepler in 2012.

When Hepler added a storyline that included gay romance to the game, the result was a prominent and very ugly online harassment campaign. At one point, Hepler was receiving more than 500 harassing messages a day that threatened both her and her family.

The film is unabashedly and brutally honest as it argues how we treat each other in online spaces is a reflection of how we treat each other in the real world. Hiding behind keyboards and screen names, trolls pour out racist, sexist, and homophobic slurs with the click of a button — and anyone who dares to speak out becomes a target.

After the screening, audience members are invited to stay for a post-film discussion to become part of the larger conversation that is shaping our video game world.